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| Safeen (*Ibn Safinaz x Abitibi Madeena) |
"...she is one of the noblest mares in the herd, with the dry, typey look of the true Bedouin mare. She has been a superior mare for the EAO."
When I read through the impressive list of get sired by Safeen, I think of Dr. Zaghloul and how time has proven the accuracy of what he told Arabian Horse World magazine, all those years ago. I also remember something that Beverly Sziraky once told me, in one of my visits to Imperial Egyptian Stud. She felt that *Ibn Safinaz was more significant, than anyone could ever realize, for the direction that he took the existing breeding foundation. She felt so strongly about *Ibn Safinaz and the sound of her voice, together with the words she used, conveyed how important this particular horse was for Imperial. And yet, she could not understand why he was so underrated, especially by the people who should value him most. She felt that he consistently sired horses who were athletic, with very strong movement, trainable, possessing sound, stable minds and a generously willing character. Safeen, a 1991 grey son of *Ibn Safinaz, was bred by Hamilton Schmidt. He was last owned by Dr. Matthias Oster and Gabriele Seidlitz-Oster of Arabian Heritage Source in northern Bavaria. Dr. Oster, in the memorial page for Safeen, affirms all the qualities that Beverly had once told me that *Ibn Safinaz possessed and passed onto his get,
"Safeen has proven to be a prepotent sire of classical type, sweet character, rideablity, overall correctness and movements."
As influential and enduring as Safinaz continues to be, she is only a small part of the genetic fiber that resulted in this extraordinary horse we knew as Safeen. His dam, Abitibi Madeena, is an Imperial Madheen daughter out of Abitibi Maamouna, a Moniet el Nafis daughter. Safeen's matriline traces back to *Bint Serra I, one of 6 Egyptian horses imported by Henry Babson in 1932. An interesting story concerning the mare involves W.R. Brown, who through his agent, tried to purchase *Bint Serra I's dam, Serra, regarded as the best horse in the stud of Prince Kemal El Dine. Unfortunately, Serra was not for sale at any price. So, W.R. Brown's agent then tried to purchase *Bint Serra I. Jack Humphrey's failure to secure either horse for W.R. Brown, makes the purchase of *Bint Serra I by Henry Babson all the more impressive and for those of us who hold this mare in high esteem, an indication of the mare's value and importance. And despite this, the *Bint Serra I matriline is rare in straight Egyptian breeding. *Bint Serra's sire, Sotamm (Astraled x Selma) was one of the horses exported to Egypt from Crabbet Park. While Mesaoud (the sire of Astraled) and Sobha (the dam of Selma) were of Abbas Pasha breeding, Sotamm's pedigree also included multiple lines to Queen of Sheba and to Azrek, two horses that the Blunts had purchased in the desert of non-Abbas Pasha breeding. However, *Bint Serra's dam, Serra (Sahab x Jemla), while bred by Lady Anne Blunt, was completely of 100% Abbas Pasha breeding!
The Saklawi matriline is further enhanced by the concentration of Moniet el Nefous, primarily through her Sid Abouhom daughters, Mabrouka and Mouna. Moniet el Nefous was also named by Dr. Zaghloul as another mare whose influence, despite selling some of her best progeny overseas, was already far-reaching within the EAO breeding program. As far as Safeen is concerned, she is a critical ancestor, in terms of her combined genetic influence. Think of it in this way, there are 16 lines in the 6th generation of Abitibi Madeena's pedigree. Half of this number (8 lines) point to Moniet el Nefous, through *Morafic, Mouna, *Ansata Bint Mabrouka and *Ibn Moniet el Nefous!
What I also found interesting within Safeen's pedigree is the combined influence of 5 Nazeer sons, with some of the sons appearing multiple times: Alaa el Din (2x), *Morafic (4x), Hadban Enzahi (2x), Galal and *Ansata Ibn Halima. Why are the Nazeer sons important? It is because the pedigree also includes over 20 lines to Shahloul plus an additional line to Hamdan, his full brother. One of the more successful breeding nicks practiced at the EAO was Mansour, top-crossed onto Shahloul, which we find in Safeen's pedigree many times.
Safeen is the kind of horse who makes me wish that I owned mares, so that I could breed to him. Most of Safeen's life happened when my focus was elsewhere, and not on horses. I am embarrassed to say that I didn't know much about him, until much later. It was only because of Pat Platzek and her incredible breeding program called El Masr, that I learned of Safeen. At the time, Pat owned the Safeen son, EAI Silvereen, who had sired a number of beautiful horses for Pat, like Madheen El Masr and Silome El Masr. The more I studied Pat's horses, the more I realized that the common denominator in the majority of the horses that I liked was Safeen and the combination of key ancestral elements which made a horse like him possible. On this side of Safeen's life, hindsight makes this point clear, much to my regret. I only wish that I knew back then, when it was more possible to exercise any opportunity, as compared to today. Dr. Matthias Oster, in closing, makes the point significantly clear on his website, Arabian Heritage Source,
"Safeen is a stallion unique in the world both by his looks and his genetic potential."
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